THE PSYCHE'S GESTURES

Soze Gallery is pleased to present The Psyche’s Gestures, a solo exhibition of all new paintings by Zio Ziegler. The Psyche’s Gestures marks the first solo exhibition of Zio’s work at Soze and offers viewers a glimpse into the artist’s manifestation on art.

Press Release

Zio Ziegler on The Psyche’s Gestures:With the capacity to easily generate an image, and a truth with that image, the value of an imageslowly fades and in turn so does the truth. We are defined by our struggles, yet somehow avoid them at any cost because patience is no longer economically viable for the pace of the world. We see art objects which are anti- aesthetic, making the entry barrier simply the ability to transcend the mass visual and enter into a more cerebral engagement with the work. To use an apt cliche- We can no longer judge books by their covers because the covers are either so numerous, or so consciously anti aesthetic, that they evade engagement by camouflaging themselves against those only interested in surface. But my question is, if all artists where to follow these queries of "innovation", each trying to find a way to reduce the process of painting to a new way of anti Image-making rather than playing in its vast history of aesthetics, does the work become so detached from beauty that it is reliant on its context? What happens when we are no longer here to provide the context? When those curators are long gone, and the common person mistakes what was once valuable for a piece of trash? Do we follow the curator’s choices from the past or that of the populous, and are the two mutually exclusive if one must always be elevated from the other? The reliance of the anti aesthetic work on the institution leaves art for arts sake far behind, and simulates an environment where art is purposely getting as far from what we "know" to be art as possible. Yet Duchamp's piece without a signature is simply a toilet, and an Art object without a Museum is simply a testimony to the fulfillment of a society’s hierarchy of needs, art as artifact- as a reach for posterity from the people. But how can art affect humanity, if Humanity cannot recognize it as such? With the commodification of artifact comes a culture’s iterations and dialogues, or context heavy emphasis rather than that of Art which transcends its environment. But if an image is no longer representative of the truth- rather the truth we want it to be, isn't it more necessary for art to be an articulation of a truth we all must acknowledge- that of the human condition? There must be tiers of inaccessibility for desire to be present within art, but it seems as though the market is trying to fabricating history faster than we live it, instead of focusing on that which will have an impact for posterity- without its context . If we can learn any lesson from the curation of history and the selectivity of memory- it's that art objects survive out of their emotional impact rather their projected economic value. If art is a vehicle to speak a larger "truth " to the soul in the era of the destabilization of reality - then why choose objects that further distort our notion of truth. The survival mechanism of soul in some art comes from a knowledge of aesthetic principals and a connection to a emotional source melded into an image that evokes feeling, and from feeling, thought about feeling. Not an image that evokes thought and through thought, feeling. We must feel to remember, and to make a society that is so used to images feel again through the catalyst of an image- the images must have an emotional truth to share as well as an intellectual one. How can art mirror culture, or be responsible to mirror culture, if culture is nothing more than a series of reflections from one mirror to the next. Culture now a days is a series of economic and intellectual entry barriers, "truths" perpetrated by those with an interest in holding the mirrors- and in only able to generate more and more fractured and iterative products.We stay within this prism of images and dialogue, because to leave it means to engage head on with larger more ineffable truths, and because we live in a reductive society- we believe all truths already exist within a forest of mirrors called the Internet. So as society reaches towards a hyper referential hyper efficient status and Hobbesian ideal, we leave that which gives us the power to actually live history that lasts longer than the engagement in the image, which simulates a history to be made. How can we have post internet art if we have not truly seen the consequences of the Internet? It is impossible to find truth without perspective unless you are sourcing the emotional thread that's existed for time immemorial. Place the art objects we value today in the trash for tomorrow's generation- and let's see what survives when they must choose what is art and what is not. Art is larger than context, it's larger than the negation of Beauty and a dialogue with the posts and the antis. Art is the only unquantifiable asset left to us- the only thing visually which we can find a refuge for our humanity within. With the invention of the personal camera came the negation of the imageas art, and with the globalization of the camera and the supreme access of the image comes the power of the curator. And with this division of art object and regular image comes the emphasis on context and intention and credential. And with the emphasis on context comes an art object dependent on its framework of thought, and a populous who can no longer understand where to place their value. And with this comes the death of the infinite and supreme unhappiness and the rise of art which speaks to the infinite itself. Art which transcends words, and museums and the dumpsters of the future. Which is somehow preserved in the mind, which resembles a history lived rather than a history that's been assembled by those with a vested interest in it taking place. And this is why I try, in my humble way to paint figures, from the inside out. Why I try to used surface and tool to render something which in turn renders my identity. Why I try to build a vacuum as a studio and paint not from a negation of today's culture, but as a way to feel a truth I can never articulate. This is not art Brute, this is not outsider art, this is art free of context in the age of mechanical reproduction. These figures are experiments, are testimonies to the beauty of contradiction, to the inconsistency of life, homages to memories, fractures images and emotions that have made it into the vacuum. These are made as an attempt to reach towards the essence of karma and spirit, to provide an infinite through the window of an image. To serve as a starting place for thought, not as a search box towards the known. These are paintings that come from inward, and go outward, and will keep going for as long as humanity deems them necessary. They will carry your secrets, your projections, your ideas, your doubts and desires- this is the canvas as surrogate soul and memory. A piece of a mystery which cannot be solved, a nod to what we can never figure out, or plot and productize while keeping that which defines it alive. These paintings are yours, not mine.And as images and alternate realities, and facades without foundation continue to surround you, it is my hope that these images can serve as a rudder to navigate that truth with is A Priori. There is a synthetic seduction in the media that is so easy to consume, a feedback loop which closes tighter with each engagement, a satiation which fades the more we see the presence of the drug as structure itself. And in this ease of consumption, the palatable happiness fades with the lack effort to consume. We are defined by our efforts and struggles, and without them happiness is impotent. It may take years of this slick pseudo culture until one craves more struggle, but it will come and the struggle will not be in the referential rather in the vulnerability it takes to engage something emotionally.And as the world becomes more efficient and more quantifiable, that which remains enigmatic will last and that which doesn't need context will always be free.